Jesus Never Said... Follow Your Heart

“Just follow your heart.”

It’s one of the most common pieces of advice in culture today but Jesus never actually said it.  In this first episode of our new series, “Jesus Never Said…”, we unpack the decision between following our feelings and following Christ.

Culture tells us: trust yourself, live your truth, do what feels right.

But Jesus taught something very different:
 👉 “Follow Me.”
 👉 “Deny yourself.”
 👉 “Trust in the Lord.”

The reality is: Feelings are real… but they were never meant to lead your life.  Because sometimes what feels right, still leads in the wrong direction.

We'd love to hear from you -- email us at ListenToShoesOff@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Shoes Off, a weekly podcast where we pause, take off what weighs us down, and take a step onto holy ground.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Isaac, what if one of the most accepted pieces of advice and culture is also one of the most dangerous? The phrase, just follow your heart. I know it sounds freeing, it sounds empowering, it sounds authentic, but honestly, some of the worst decisions that probably we've made and even people make begin with, I just followed my heart.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

What's really interesting is that uh a lot of people assume that idea actually lines up with Christianity, but in actuality, Jesus never said that.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Hey, welcome back to Shoes Off. Today we're kicking off a brand new series called Jesus Never Said. And over the next few weeks, we're gonna look at some of the most common phrases and assumptions that people connect to Christianity, but Jesus never actually taught it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

And honestly, some of these ideas have been repeated so much in culture that people may even assume that they actually came straight from the Bible.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Actually, I even heard recently this phrase that we're gonna talk about today. Someone say, Oh yeah, that was in the Bible. And it's actually not. And today's probably one of the biggest ones that you've heard is follow your heart. What we're gonna get into is Jesus actually taught the opposite from that.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, there's a couple different scriptural things that we'll look at today in Matthew chapter four and also in Luke chapter nine, but I think let's just go ahead and read these to kind of set it and then we can talk about this afterwards. So in Matthew chapter four, this is verse 19 or 18 and 19, it says, And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And then in Luke chapter 9, verse 23, it says, And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

So those two scriptures, we'll pause there if you're following along with us. We're gonna give you a lot of scriptures today for your own devotion and your own time of just reflection. But that was Matthew chapter four, verses eighteen and nineteen, and Luke chapter nine, verse twenty-three. And Isaac, when you read that, I mean, if you actually look at what Jesus taught, he never told people to follow themselves. He said, Follow me.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Yeah, and that's a huge difference because modern culture, what we hear a lot is trust yourself above everything else. So like trust your gut and to things like that. But Jesus always when he's talking to people, he's pointing them outside of themselves, and and always he's pointing them towards himself, and he wants him to be the point in all of that.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Another key phrase that was in Luke 9, 23 that you read, and I said, Deny yourself. And and honestly, Jesus taught almost the exact opposite of what today's modern, I would say, self-centered thinking, or I think putting you first thinks and is taught today, even in the media. Jesus said, deny yourself and then take up your cross and follow me. There's it, it is nothing about us that glorifies us. It's all about following him and not what's in us.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Right. And and that's not really the message that the culture we live in today really celebrates because we live in a culture today that's very much like protect yourself or prioritize yourself, or even the this phrase is probably one of my least favorites is like build your truth, whatever you find is true, make that true. But Jesus doesn't tell us to do any of that. I mean, yes, he does want us to protect ourselves and to prioritize itself in certain situations, but he wants us to build our truth upon him. And our protection and our priorities should be first in him. We should give him the first fruits of everything and follow him in everything. But really, what we see in this is Jesus talks about surrendering. And that's what I think is a lot different from the culture. The culture is go for yourself, make everything, do everything for yourself, do everything that you can for yourself. But Jesus says, surrender everything about yourself to me and let me guide you.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

So Jesus said, follow him, not follow yourself. And the next phrase is that our heart can mislead us. When we talk about the heart, it's a visual picture of the human heart, the human thinking. This is not about, we know that if we give our life to Jesus, he says he gives us a new heart. But this is the heart of flesh, and this is the heart of the human thought. And so there's the scripture reference here is Jeremiah chapter 17 and 9, and it reads there that the heart is deceitful above all things. Above all things, the heart is deceitful, and it's desperately wicked. Who can even know it? That that's a pretty powerful phrase. And honestly, again, this gives us a very honest picture of the human side of things where Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful above all things.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

That's a really strong language, and I think that we should say this here. It doesn't mean that emotions are bad, but it does mean that our feelings alone are not trustworthy leaders because our emotions shift constantly. And I think about the story of David when he sees Bathsheba, like his heart was calling towards her, but he goes in his own way to find her. And you go through that whole story, Bathsheba's husband comes back and he kind of tries to murder him, and there's all these different things that his heart is telling him because he wants the original thing is love, maybe, or lust towards someone that his heart's giving them, but then it's like guilt and he's trying to hide it and he's using his emotions to make all these decisions. Then I think we can look at David's story and say that everything that he did at the end through, especially with Meshiva, was wrong. And I think everyone would agree with that, but that's him going off the feelings that he has and his emotions, but his emotions are shifting constantly, like I just said.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

I think it's a good segue to the next thing is is about feelings. Some of you may be thinking today, where are you saying my feelings aren't real or what I feel? And I think there's there's a fine line there, Isaac, as we talk about this. There's feelings that I do think comes out of a human nature of us, and I think there's feelings that if we're in tune with the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit gives us answers. And so there's a there's a fine line, and we probably battle that every day. It's like, okay, is this God speaking to me or is this kind of my own flesh? And which which way is right? I mean, we we kind of battle that with decisions in Proverbs 14 verse 12, it says there's a way that seems right into a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And then in Galatians chapter 5, verses 16 and 17, it says, This I say then, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh, lustless against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that ye cannot do the things that you would. And I think sometimes when people hear this conversation, they assume that we're saying, Oh, ignore your emotions, you can't have emotions. But that's that's really not it. I mean, feelings are real, but we have to be very careful. If the feelings are of the flesh, that's not the ultimate decision. And if we follow that, the Bible even says there's a way, right? There's feelings, there's a way that seems right to us, but if it's of the flesh, it's just the ways of death. It's not the right end.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Like you said, it's not us saying that feelings are not real because they are real, but they were never meant to sit on the throne. They were never meant to be making orders and directions, everything, because there are moments where something maybe does feel right, or something does feel justified, or something does feel easier, but those decisions still lead to something that is destructive. And that's really what we see in the wisdom literature written to us in Proverbs.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

So, what do you think about the phrase, Isaac? You know, about culture when it again, we said follow your heart, but I've also heard the phrase just trust your feeling, trust your gut. I mean, what what comes to mind when you think that?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

I think that's something going on today in our culture, is that everyone thinks that like we have all the answers inside of us. You just have to deep dig enough in yourself and you'll figure out the answers. But I I think that we actually see the opposite of that, especially through a scripture. And and this this is probably the most it's a very well-known verse, but it's probably one that speaks really well to this is in Romans chapter 12. It says, And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Paul is telling us here very clearly that we should not be conformed to the things of the world, and that we need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And who is transforming that, right? When we're renewing our mind, who are we going to for that renewal?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Paul's not saying that that renewal is in us, that renewal only comes through God, that we need to go to him, and that through our renewing of our mind, that God is going to show us what is good, he's going to show us what's acceptable and perfect and what his will is. And then we'll be able to conform to that. We'll be able to understand that more. But Paul's very, very clear in this. And that, like you said, if it feels true to you, then it is true. That that that's not true. It says that we need to not be conformed to our own thoughts.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

I think our youth is hearing that in schools. I think they're hearing it in the world, they're seeing it on media. That hey, if it feels feels right, then it's got to be right. That's not right. We uh I I think Jesus actually teaches the opposite of that. I mean, the the scripture you just read talks about renewing our mind through the truth, through the the word of God, and and not building truth around your feelings, but building truth around what is foundational with Christ.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

And it's that a very similar phrase to this, I think, is UBU. Just do do whatever you do, or whatever. It's very same to it. Whatever makes you happy. That that kind of falls along in this whole phrase that we're going with today is do what makes you happy. And that's not always good. And that goes kind of back to what we said a second ago, but it it makes it seem like that what we feel, and really this is what it comes back to is that it makes it this idea of that our feelings are what is true, whatever I feel is what is true. And and I think that's what we we need to guard against.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Here's the problem with looking within ourselves and not looking at the word of God. First of all, the word of God is true, it's steadfast, and it never changes. And honestly, some of the other big things that we hear today is look within yourself. The problem with looking within ourselves is that our desires change. I mean, day to day. I I could like one food today, and tomorrow I won't I won't like it. I could like one outfit. I mean, that's just a simple example, but our desires change, our emotions change on a day-to-day, our impulses change. So those are just three examples of if we look within ourselves, we change all the time. I mean, things you like today or how you react today is probably not the same as things that you liked maybe when you was growing up as a teenager, or the things decisions you made today, you're like, man, I'm a lot more wiser today. It's because we change, and that's the problem with looking within ourselves. But looking at Christ, that's something that never changes.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Right, because he never changes, and that's the that's the beauty of it. And and you say that, like, I should probably be an astronaut right now. Like, that's probably what I wanted to be when I was six years old. But I'm not, things things change in that. Um it really comes to this idea that if our feelings become the final authority in our lives, or that's where we figure out what is true and what's not, but our feelings are changing so rapidly, then life gets really unstable pretty quick. There is no stability, there is no nothing really to go back to and to anchor yourself to because your truth is changing every day, every minute, every year, whatever it is, but it's changing too much, and it's making your life unstable. But if you can anchor it in something that is more stable than anything, which is through Christ, then that's where we can really understand truth and where we can really get real authority that is instability.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Let me ask you another question, Isaac. I mean, this isn't new. I think this goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. I mean, do you do you think that Eve was like, I'm just gonna follow my heart here?

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Yeah, I mean, she was even the serpent tempted Eve with her emotions and with her feelings, right? And made her question. I mean, he he goes on to say, like, did God really say that you were gonna die? Like, there's no way that he would actually kill you, like, there's no way that you would actually die from this, and like you know, which redirected her from God as them, which redirected her from God's truth to looking within herself, right? Because she wanted that wisdom, it it started to become a feeling of that God was withholding things from them, yeah. And that's kind of what they felt and why she took of the apple, is that could have been the feeling, and then you have to think about the same thing with Adam. Adam went to his feelings, what he felt for himself, uh and maybe it was the love that he had for his wife or the care that he had for Eve or what whatever it was, but he trusted that feeling more than the directions that he was given from God.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

I think Eve saw something desirable and and she she chose that, she trusted what she felt over kind of what God said. And I think that's the as you said, I think that's the battle today. So here's here's the real tension of I think bringing it to real life, and this is really where following Jesus becomes real for us. And the question is, what happens when what I feel conflicts with what God says?

SPEAKER_01 13:49

I think that's a great question because everyone loves following Jesus when feelings and truth align. And the hard part and that that question is is what happens when they don't align?

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Yeah. So four points we want to bring out today that really helps you think about this and practical life applications. The first one is feelings make terrible foundations. I mean, as we said, and we just want to reiterate, is that feelings are constantly changing. So if your life is built entirely on emotion or your feelings, your direction is gonna constantly change as well. You really need to make the decision to make that foundation built upon the word and built upon Christ Himself.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Jesus was actually pretty clear in this, and there's some teaching uh on this too, where he talks there, there's the parable about the man that built his house on the rock and the one that built it on the was it in the sand, right? Yeah. And that's exactly what we're talking about. And if you've ever lived, if you've ever lived near water or you see things, especially on the beach, you see that those landscapes actually change quite often in a lot of things. Yeah, and you never know, like hurricane seasons or anything, but like you may buy this awesome beach property, but it may not be anything of what it is in 10 years because it's constantly changing, right? Storms and that's that's the thing that storms are. Yeah, yeah. It's your your foundation is always and this kind of leads to our second application that is that the truth has to shape the heart, and scripture never teaches trust your heart completely, but it does teach let God transform your heart through truth. And that's a major, major difference because we we do need to know what truth is and we should follow truth, but we should our feelings on that should whatever or how should we feel about a certain situation? And I think Christians are sometimes asked questions, and you're not really sure what the answer is, right? Like we're not sure how you're supposed to feel about it. And the answer in that should be what saith the word of God. Yeah, that should be where we go first because that's where the truth is, and that truth should then set our feelings.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

And the heart, obviously, God doesn't rip out and put a new physical heart in us, but it is that transformation of our heart and that inner feeling and renewing of the mind. And Romans just says it perfect, renewing of the mind focused on God, and that is that that's a huge difference. I mean, truth has to shape the heart, and the truth is Jesus Christ and the Word of God. So the third one is following Jesus requires surrender. And again, at some point, following Jesus means that you need to lay everything down and trust him more than you trust yourself. And it sounds hard, but that's the only way that we're going to ensure that we fully surrender is when we put ourselves aside. And sometimes that's uncomfortable to put ourselves aside because we love ourselves. Yeah, we love ourselves more than anything, but we have to put ourselves aside and trust him more than you trust yourself.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

And just to add to that, this is probably something you've heard a lot too. But I was taught in school or anything, like when you're you have a a client or something and you're talking to them or whatever, it's always asked questions about them because people love talking about themselves. That's is that something you've been taught to at some point? I've heard of that. It's like like when you're but it it goes back to this idea that you just said is that people love we we do love talking about ourselves and what we feel and what we believe is true, and what we think about, and it does go to that we need to trust him, just as you said. And then our last application this week is that sincerity doesn't guarantee truth. And this is something that that really matters is that you can be sincere about something, but still be wrong, and a feeling can be genuine and it can still lead you somewhere unhealthy. I still have a feeling the Reds are gonna make the playoffs this year.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Yeah, good luck.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Exactly, right? But my feeling can be genuine that I think that we're going to make it, that I believe in this team or whatever, but it's probably gonna lead me somewhere unhealthy, and like I'm probably not gonna have a good time come October. And that may be a silly analogy of it, but that that's stuff that we actually do feel a lot. You may have a gut feeling that this is the right thing. There are things that are really hard. And how many stories, Dad, or testimonies have you seen where people are their jobs on the line and their company makes cuts and they're like, Well, I have a feel like I shouldn't be the one to go, and it's not there's other people that are worse than me, and that's the feeling you have. And then something bad happens, they lose their job, they get cut from it, but then God provides something brand new to them, yeah. And it's so much better than what they have, and they're so much better environment. That feeling about losing their job was extremely genuine. Yeah, but and you put the trust in the right place, it leads you to somewhere healthier and and fully around you, and you're able to understand more when God is in control.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Yeah, and I've seen many examples in my life where, you know, I I think we hear it called good intentions or hey, I did this out of the goodness of my heart. And it all of that can be true, but the fact is still it was made out of the foundation of flesh, and maybe it wasn't made on the foundation of God. And I think sometimes, even if it's out of the good intent or goodness of our heart, that okay, I I think this is right, I think we just need to pause and pray and get a very clear answer and just ensure, hey, God, is this really built on you? Is this something that I'm not trying to do on my own? And maybe I'm I'm just thinking it is. So again, there's never, I wish it was so clear every time, but I think again, the challenge for us is to just stay true to the spirit and pray about it. And I I think God will direct us and lead us as necessary.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

So here's our challenge to you this week. And this again, anytime we do these challenges, these are probably challenges for us more than it is for our listeners. So let's call it a challenge for all of us this week. And here it is it's pay attention to what is driving your decisions. Is it emotion? Is it comfort? Is it impulse? Is it fear? Or is it truth?

SPEAKER_02 20:06

And before making any major decision this week, stop and ask yourself Am I following my heart or am I following Christ in this decision?

SPEAKER_01 20:15

And if you take anything from this podcast today, it's Jesus never said follow your heart, but he did say, follow me.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Amen. Well, let's pray as we close the episode, and we trust that this will just give you some encouragement. Go back and re read those verses and build on reflection. And hopefully, this has been a blessing to you. Let's pray. God help us to trust you more than our emotions. Give us wisdom when our feelings pull us in different directions, and help us follow truth even when it's difficult. Teach us to what it really means to follow you, not just ourselves, and to put ourselves aside, renew our minds, shape our hearts, help us build our lives on what's true instead of what simply feels right in the moment. In Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Thanks for joining us on Shoes Off. Until next time, keep walking in faith. And remember, growth begins on holy ground.